Night Shift Workers

I recently started working night shifts and have settled into what I think is a decent sleep/awake schedule. My only problem is I'm not sure what to do on my days off since I have to stay up from Midnight to 8:30 AM.

What say you night shift workers of TE?

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Comments

iBrokeIT

Study and lab so you don't have to work the night shift anymore?

Verities

I already do both of those and I'm working on multiple certifications at the moment. I chose night shift because I receive a 15% differential pay boost.

snunez889

I have a weird sleep pattern. When I work nites I would go to bed right when I got home, wake up when I couldnt sleep anymore and use the evenings and nites like any other. On my days off I would just relax and go to bed around 2 or 3 am and use the morning/ day as if I wasnt on a nightly schedule.

j4g3rb0mb3d

I hear ya man. Luckily, for me, I work a swinging shift where I only work 3 or 4 days a week, alternating every week. Since I have at least 3 or 4 days off, its not too hard to for me to switch back to a normal daytime schedule. On my last day of the week, I deprive myself of sleep. When I get home, I take a 4 hour nap and wake back up. I'll still be pretty tired, but I'll have no problem going to bed at a normal time later that night. On the day of the night that I have to be back, I'll wake up earlier than normal, and then later on in the day take a 5-6 hour nap before leaving for work to get back into the overnight schedule.

It works for me, but I'm sure that I'm doing no favors to my health.

Verities

snunez889 wrote: »

I have a weird sleep pattern. When I work nites I would go to bed right when I got home, wake up when I couldnt sleep anymore and use the evenings and nites like any other. On my days off I would just relax and go to bed around 2 or 3 am and use the morning/ day as if I wasnt on a nightly schedule.

I follow the same sleep pattern. That is a bit weird for your days off. I'm not sure how I would handle that type of transition. I guess I'll try that next week.

j4g3rb0mb3d

Verities wrote: »

I follow the same sleep pattern. That is a bit weird for your days off. I'm not sure how I would handle that type of transition. I guess I'll try that next week.

Believe it or not, its actually really nice. Granted, they are 12 hour shifts, but I have PLENTY of free time while still being a full time employee. My commute to and from work has been cut down by 2 - 4 trips a week. One week I'll only work 36 hours, the next I'll work 48. That's a guaranteed 8 hours of overtime per pay period. If I finagle it correctly, all I have to do is take 3 days of PTO off to have a 10 day vacation. I'm really enjoying it, and I'm glad that I made the switch from working 3-11.

Gorby

I've done night shift (12 hour) before and it's something I plan on never doing again in my life. My body wasn't cut out for it like others it seems and long term I was always tired and weigh more.

If your going to do night shift then I'd recommend getting night shades for your room to sleep during the day at least 6-8 hours. Also I don't know about the others on here, but I recommend following that sleep pattern on your days off to allow you to adjust as well.

Social wise, you may end up missing friends if your sleep when they are out but if the job is a good opportunity I'd stick it through.

the_Grinch

My suggestion would be to stick to your schedule on your days off. When I switched to nights with another guy I found that his screw ups were coming from switching schedules on the weekend. We were working 4 10's (8pm to 6 am) Monday to Friday. His friends/wife would want to do stuff on Fridays so he would stay up all day and adjust his schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday morning they could count on some screw ups from Monday night (when he'd adjust again). I took over and would be in bed by 8 or 9 am then back up at 3 pm to exercise and do whatever I had to do. I found people with day jobs weren't doing anything during the week and on weekends they would not be out till 8 pm anyhow (or maybe an early dinner). Keep your schedule on days off and save yourself a headache.

bobloblaw

Hang out with people in the restaurant service industry. Those people are up all night.

snunez889

Its tough but I got use to it. I didn't do it for years and years, who knows if it would of had an effect. I just didn't want to lose my days off by sleeping all day and being up all nite. When would I spend time with my family? The Days I worked I would definitely get tired come the last two hours or work, but I wasn't falling asleep. You just have to find the best schedule that works for you.

Verities

bobloblaw wrote: »

Hang out with people in the restaurant service industry. Those people are up all night.

Ah, great idea! This is along the lines of advice I was looking for. Thanks!